Liz Currently Loves….The Storm by Virginia Bergin

“I’ll tell you a weird thing about apocalypses – a thing I didn’t even know until I was in one: they seem pretty bad, don’t they? Well, take it from me: they can always get worse.”

Three months after the killer rain first fell, Ruby is beginning to realise her father might be dead . . . and that she cannot survive alone. When a chance encounter lands her back in the army camp, Ruby thinks she is safe – at a price. Being forced to live with Darius Spratt is bad enough, but if Ruby wants to stay she must keep her eyes – and her mouth – shut. It’s not going to happen.

Now I ADORED “The Rain” the first book in this series, so I was really keen to read the follow up – I adored this one as well and the same thing is true of The Storm as was so with The Rain. Its all about Ruby. She is such a terrifically drawn character that you can’t help loving her – although of course it could go the other way. If you love Ruby you’ll love the book. If you don’t you may STILL love the book but for entirely different reasons…

Anyway, in “The Storm” Ruby is having some issues, all alone she goes through something of a mental breakdown and it takes a chance encounter with another person to make her realise this. As she returns more to her own sassy self, she sets off to try and track down her family yet ends up back in the place she once ran away from. Here she discovers dark deeds afoot and in her own indomitable Ruby style she embarks on a rather rambling attempt to sort everything out.

There is a huge amount of character development for Ruby in this follow up novel – in the first one she was kind of shallow, although having to deal with killer rain did make her up her game a bit. By the end of “The Rain” she is growing up – and in The Storm she grows up some more. I have loved watching her from her humble beginnings, where even when everyone was dying around her she still found time to worry about how she looked, to the end of the first book and on into the second as she grows in stature but without losing her totally cool comtemplative edge.

The other side of the story – the apocalypse side – takes on an even more sinister edge and is extremely well imagined. Human nature being what it is, nothing is straightforward, this part of the plot is cleverly constructed, seen as it is through Ruby’s eyes to give the reader a hint of what lies beneath the surface before Ruby can actually get at the truth. The concept is beautifully frightening and the more “thrilling” aspects of The Storm are really very addictive.

If you liked The Rain you will LOVE this. If you loved Ruby you will be so happy to have her back. Ruby Rocks.

Overall a really really terrific read – I stormed through it (yes that was on purpose) and adored every sassy super moment of it.

They don’t believe it at first. Crowded in Zach’s kitchen, Ruby and the rest of the partygoers laugh at Zach’s parents’ frenzied push to get them all inside as it starts to drizzle. But then the radio comes on with the warning, “It’s in the rain! It’s fatal, it’s contagious, and there’s no cure.”

Two weeks later, Ruby is alone. Anyone who’s been touched by rain or washed their hands with tap water is dead. The only drinkable water is quickly running out. Ruby’s only chance for survival is a treacherous hike across the country to find her father-if he’s even still alive.